Quickly becoming a household name, Dr. Parkinstine is actually Parker Edmondson, a native of Jacksonville who grew up in Carrollton.
“ I’ ve had that nickname since I was really little,” Edmondson said.“ I guess it was because I was always interested in making something, or repairing something, electrical.”
That interest led him at an early age to build a replica of Nikola Tesla’ s magnetic transmitter, commonly known as the Tesla Coil.
His magnetic transmitter works on radio frequencies that are sent via the earth’ s magnetic field.
“ It works like a radio,” Edmondson said.“ You transmit electricity wirelessly through the earth to different designations. A transmitter is tuned to a particular frequency, it goes through the earth, is captured by a receiver attached, for instance, to a light bulb, and the light bulb can be lit from miles away.”
Indeed, his apparatus was able to transmit light some 918.6 miles away in 2021 to an engineer in Chicago, who is a follower on Dr. Parkinstine’ s TikTok broadcast. The engineer, Nikolas Matsuki, learned how to build a receiver with instructions from Edmondson, and the pair successfully lit a light bulb in Chicago from the transmission originating in Carrollton.
His magnetic transmitter uses three coils, as did Tesla’ s, but modern transmitters use two, Edmondson explained.
At the age of 21, Edmondson was invited to speak to a crowd of 50-60 at the Energy, Science and Technology Convention in Spokane, Washington, explaining the magnetic transmission technology. Edmondson is still very much interested in the field of electricity and wireless transmission, but nowadays, he has become something of a novelty around Jacksonville, with his vintage clothing and love of antiques.
Combining his love of all things vintage with his knowledge of most things mechanical or electrical, Dr. Parkinstine uses his media content to share his findings with the world at large.
Currently, he posts daily on TikTok; every other day on Instagram and Twitter, and once a week on YouTube.
Dr. Parkinstine’ s posts are not only informative; they are also lucrative, at least for him. He earns a modest income, most of which he saves for the house he eventually hopes to buy.
“ I have one in mind that I want to buy and turn into a museum and bed-and-breakfast,” he said.“ I hope to move in by the end of the year.”
14 Jacksonville Progress | Fall 2025